I readily concede that moral boundaries and restraint are crucial to good living. But I am suspicious of the Pharisaic distortions, namely an irrational rigidity, or the sorts of bizarre loopholes and rationalizations common to those who take abstinence vows.

Christians are as wildly for sex as anyone; that's what got Bristol into trouble. They simply have an idealized notion of it, one that's increasingly divorced from the reality and the direction of the larger society.

The areas of the country that have embraced the new "blue" model of family life have seen teen birth and divorce rates plummet. In contrast, "red" marriage promotion, which tries to control sex rather than childbearing, is a proven failure.